


When the morning comes.

by Discontinuous Qualia (Sechzehn)



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, P5R Spoilers, Persona 5: The Royal, shuake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-02-01 03:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21347338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sechzehn/pseuds/Discontinuous%20Qualia
Summary: As if Ren hasn't spoken, Akechi brings out his smartphone and the pale light of its display illuminates his tired eyes."It's later than I imagined", he says and pockets the phone once again. "Looks like I've just lost the last train to watch you chicken out. You owe me at least a cup of Sakura-san's finest blend."A smirk on handsome features. His heart jumps."I guess it can't be helped."
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 7
Kudos: 132





	When the morning comes.

**Author's Note:**

> I... Well. P5R robbed me of my heart together with its wonderful depiction of the relationship between the protagonist and Akechi. I just HAD to write something about 2/2 because I wanted them to drop all pretenses and forget about their mission for a moment. In the game both Ren and Goro get emotional for a moment and I wanted to depict more of it.
> 
> This is set right after Akechi leaves Leblanc the day before the final boss of the game.

The door of Leblanc closes with a jingle and traps the freezing air of February into the empty café. The place he likes to call "home" looks desolated, lights out and cups of coffee went cold in the dimness.

Words echo in his mind and weave together into a chain that clenches his heart and squeezes the air out of his lungs. He's never hesitated in walking along the path he chose for himself, even if it meant doing something morally grey, but then, why does making the right choice feel so painful? 

Akechi or the world. It's a choice that he would have never have expected to face but that crushes him to his very core. Their beliefs are finally aligned in choosing a harsh truth over a sweet lie, determined to reach the happiness they truly wish for even if it means walking a path full of thorns. 

At what cost, though? The life that Akechi thinks has so little value but that he cherishes as deeply as their bond, as the glove in his pocket. It's too bitter to swallow, too painful to bear.

One last fight and then Akechi will vanish as dawn will break on a different reality, just like the wonderful dream he is.

They won't even have a chance to say goodbye. 

He bolts through the door and the bell rings once again. The cold wind burns on his cheeks, makes his hands hurt and snowflakes dance lazily in the air, gracefully settling in his hair. He can already make out his figure, chestnut hair waving slightly, back straight and proud. Akechi's name escapes his lips in a puff of white air, the cold sets his lungs on fire.

Akechi stops dead in his track with clenched fists, gloves still covering his fingers. He doesn’t tremble and turns around, something unspoken in his eyes, and Ren doesn’t waste a single second, not even caring about the need for breathing, about the pain.

“Don’t go.”

Akechi scoffs and shifts on his feet. “Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind. I won't accept any more hesitations."

"I told you. I won't bend my will. Even…" Tears prick at the corner of his eyes. Ren lowers his head and bites his lip to fight them back. "Even if it means sacrificing what I hold most dear."

Akechi stares at him, unfazed. "Then why did you come here?" His eyes narrow slightly and a crease appears on his forehead. "You should save your energies for tomorrow's fight more than wasting them worrying about futile things."

A gust of wind howls between them and animates the dance of the tiny snowflakes that fall from the dark sky of a reality they don't belong to.

He feels likes screaming and punching Akechi in the face, rage, desperation and regret all seething in his veins. Because he's sure he knows. Because Akechi knows him more than anyone, he can perceive the deep and honest pain he feels when he looks at him knowing that this might be the last time they talk that way. 

"Your life is not trivial. Not to me, at least." Ren sighs, words as bitter as poison on the tip of his tongue. "I… I want to be with you more. I want to talk to you more. I want to fulfill our promise."

"Don't waste your time wishing for something so stupid. Why are you so…" Akechi's voice cracks like a thin veil of frost on glass. A sigh that vanishes into a small cloud, warm breath that clashes against the chill. "Get a hold of yourself, Ren. There's no turning back."

Ren feels something twist painfully in his guts but steels himself and looks up. The small alley of Yongen-Jaya feels suffocating all of a sudden. 

"I just wanted to say goodbye."

Akechi stares at him in silence, the stern, unflinching look of his true self on his face. He's so glad he got to know the most honest version of him, to share pasts, goals, and ideals and taste the sweetness of what could have been. It's the happiest nightmare ever, something he will forever cherish in the depths of his heart. 

As if Ren hasn't spoken, Akechi brings out his smartphone and the pale light of its display illuminates his tired eyes. 

"It's later than I imagined", he says and pockets the phone once again. "Looks like I've just lost the last train to watch you chicken out. You owe me at least a cup of Sakura-san's finest blend." 

A smirk on handsome features. His heart jumps. 

"I guess it can't be helped."

§

The attic is cold. The warm breaths between their faces are evanescent clouds in the darkness. Snow keeps falling outside the window. 

"Do you feel alive?" 

Akechi, the face of both angel and demon surrounded by a halo of hair resting on the pillow, nods slightly. "I do. But maybe I am not." 

Ren clenches the bedsheets with gritted teeth and eyes squeezed shut. It hurts, it hurts so, so much. The ticking of a clock echoes in his mind, each second closer to the end of the dream. Time slips by through his fingers. He wonders if he could grasp it by reaching out. 

"I wonder what it really means to be alive", Akechi says quietly. "How can someone truly determine that they're 'living'? Does sharing a bond with someone truly count as proof of one's existence? Or maybe are the desires rooted in the human heart that fulfill this purpose? I don't feel different but perhaps my existence is bound to be something hollow until the end, no matter how much I rebel against any form of control. But even so, I have no intention of giving up. Tomorrow I won’t falter.” 

Ren exhales. He really doesn’t want to say it. “Even if it means sacrificing your life?”

“There’s no definitive proof of my death. My memories might be fogged due to the strain for my excessive use of the berserk power. But even if there was, it doesn’t have to stop you.” A smirk stirs on Akechi’s lips, sharp and genuine, and something warm overflows in Ren’s heart that makes him desperate. “I wouldn’t deem you worthy of being my rival if something so little could really put you off.”

“But… you’re here, now, and you’re alive.” The palm of his hand presses against the green sweater that covers Akechi’s chest and elicits a quiet surprised sound from him. It’s solid and warm and hides a soft beat that pumps life in every cell that makes him a tangible existence. He’s there, the sound of his voice still echoes in the attic, his hand is warm in his own. His eyes sting. “All of this is so _important_ to me.”

The stoicism on Akechi’s face cracks and a defeated laugh escapes his lips. “You… you’re really incredible, aren’t you? Of all the things you chose me, the rotten fruit.“ The grip on his hand tightens. He will never forget that warmth. “I really hate that confidence of yours but… I’m glad I met you.”

Ren swallows the lump in his throat and smiles weakly. The mattress creaks slightly at the movement of his limbs in shifting closer to Akechi. Chestnut hair tickles his forehead and warmth sparks where skin meets skin. How can someone so warm not to be alive?

He closes his eyes with a whisper. He wants to believe. “Let’s meet again in our reality. And when it happens… I’m going to fulfill our promise.”

“Heh.” There’s fond exasperation in Akechi’s voice. He wants to remember that sound, too. “I’d expect no less from you.”

_“But even if it will be painful I will go on and walk along the path that I've chosen for myself, towards the stars of the future I awoke into.”_

**Author's Note:**

> @discqualia on Twitter If you want to cry about Shuake and P5R with me!


End file.
